Shadow's End
by Lost Lineage
Summary: A simple Persona 4 novelization attempt. First fanfiction, so I decided to go with something rather easy.  P Conversations will be slightly altered but will stick to main storyline... for the most part. Hope you enjoy, R&R highly appreciated.
1. Chapter 1: The Velvet Room

The Velvet Room

A blue haze shown through Souji's eyelids. Slowly blinking his eyes open, he had to squint in order to see in the coolly lit room. Looking to his side through a window, Souji saw faint blue smoke passing by. Beneath him he felt the steady hum of what felt like a car's engine.

'_Where am I?'_

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," A casual voice greeted, almost as to answer his thoughts.

Souji looked forward to where he heard the voice. He was making out shapes easier now and could see that two figures were in the space with him. One looked like a hunched over, old man with a huge pointed noise and an almost eerie grim that stretched from ear to ear. His stark white hair, which had already reseeded to the back of his head, was brushed back nicely. In contrast to his thinning white hair, his dark eyebrows were thick and long, curling around the tops of his bulging, bloodshot eyes. He was dressed in a well kempt black suit with a white handkerchief sticking from his chest pocket.

The second figure was a lot less unsettling, although still borderline creepy in how silent and unmoving she was. She had light blonde hair and was noticeably younger looking than the man. She wore a blue outfit with a gold trim. Her hands rested on a book she held on her lap.

"Ah… It seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny…" The man across from Souji mused, ending his statement with a short creepy chuckle. "My name is Igor," The man continued, "I am delighted to make your acquaintance."

Souji paid the man little heed and instead looked around. Indeed, the space he seemed to be in was that of some fancy limousine or something along those lines. To his left was what seemed to be a liquor cabinet with variously shaped crystalline bottles and glasses inside. On the ceiling was a curious chandelier that looked more like a neon sign than a ceiling fixture. The man and woman across from him sat in front of a small round table that lay bare.

Noticing Souji's confused expression, Igor spoke, "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those bound by a "contract" may enter." Igor let his words sink in for a moment. "It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future."

Souji nodded curtly, trying to wrap his head around what Igor was talking about.

"Oh, now then… why don't you introduce yourself?"

The man looked at Souji expectantly. Unsure, Souji carefully opened his mouth, "I… My name is Souji Seta."

"I see…" Igor trailed off as though pondering this very heavily. "Now, let's take a look into your future, shall we?"

Igor stuck his arm out over the table, and with a flick of his fingers a small stack of cards materialized just beneath his hand. Souji widened his eyes in surprise. Seeing this, the old man smirked slightly.

"Do you believe in fortune telling?" Without pause for an answer, Igor flicked his hand again, this time in a twirling motion. Immediately the cards fanned out on the table. Looking back up at Souji the man continued, "Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different…" The man paused to laugh another odd chuckle. "Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it?"

Souji sat there silently. Not getting a response, the man looked back down at the cards. With a flip of his hand a card turned over revealing its face.

"Hmm…" Igor hummed, "The Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future." Igor looked back up at Souji. "It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent."

Souji gasped quietly, but the man paid him no attention. "The card that indicates the future beyond that is…" With another hand flip, another card turned face up. "The Moon, in the upright position." Igor looked back up at Souji, meeting his blank stare. "This card represents "hesitation" and "mystery"… Very interesting indeed." Taking a quick look back at the cards, Igor summed himself up, "It seems you will encounter a misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you. In the coming days," Igor furthered on, "you will enter into a contract of some sort, after which you will return here. The coming year is a turning point in your destiny… if the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost. My duty," Igor explained with gesture towards himself, "is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen."

Looking away from Souji, the man swiped his hand over the table and all the cards disappeared once again. Turning to his left he noticed the woman sitting next to him. "Ah!" He exclaimed, as though just remembering. "I have neglected to introduce my assistant to you. This is Margaret," Igor gestured with his hand towards the woman. "She is a resident of this place, like myself."

"My name is Margaret," The lady reiterated with a curt nod. "I am here to accompany you through your journey."

Igor turned back to Souji. "We shall attend to the details another time. Until then…" Igor trailed with a slight wave, "Farewell."

~O~

"Good thing there's something even I can handle!"

Souji's eyes fluttered open as the radio on the train played the theme music that accompanied the add for some soda brand he had never heard about. Straightening himself, he ran a hand through his pale white hair. Looking out the window to his right, Souji saw the gentle rolling landscape of the countryside.

'_Was all that… just some weird dream?'_

As if just to further vex him, a vivid image of the old man split his thoughts. Groaning in discomfort, Souji grasped his forehead. The throbbing quickly faded as he felt the train grinding to a halt. Hearing the announcement of their arrival at Inaba, Souji pushed the thought of the old man to the back of his mind and grabbed his traveling bag.

Souji made his way off the train and onto the station's dock. There weren't many people getting on at this stop, and even fewer getting off. Just by standing at the stations entrance for a minute, Souji could understand why. The small town that stretched before him was every bit as rural as you could get. Souji didn't even know there were places like this left in Japan.

'_Home, sweet home…'_

"Hey! Over here!"

A man's voice called out, as Souji was examining the view. Seeing no one around him, Souji surmised it was meant for him. Walking down the stairs, Souji saw two figures waiting in the parking lot.

"Well," The first figure, who was a middle aged man with light black hair and brown eyes, said, "you're even more handsome in person than in your photo." The man was wearing a light blue button down shirt and a red tie. He held a brown jacket slung over his shoulder.

Souji was slightly unsure of what to make of such a greeting. He tried smiling, but it appeared uneasy.

"Welcome to Inaba," The man greeted, "I'm Ryotaro Dojima, I'll be looking after you." Dojima paused a moment, thinking. "Let's see… I'm your mother's younger brother… and that about sums it up."

Souji bowed in greeting. "It's nice to meet you."

Dojima rubbed the back of his head and laughed awkwardly. "You probably don't remember, but we've met. I've changed your diapers before you know."

Dojima stared at Souji for a moment awkwardly expecting him to say something, but was only greeted with a similar. Neither seeming to know what to say now, Dojima looked down at the second figure, a young girl wearing a white shirt and a brown skirt who was next to him. She had been hiding partially behind his leg, shuffling her feet. "Ah, this here's my daughter." Dojima gently pushed the little girl out from behind him, positioning her between Souji and himself. "Come on , Nanako, introduce yourself to your cousin."

Nanako glanced up at Souji who towered above her. She made a few noises as if thinking of something to say then changing her mind before finally mumbling out only the tail end of the word "hello". Immediately after speaking, Nanako circled back around her father, hiding behind him again.

Dojima laughed, looking backwards at Nanako, "What're you so shy for?" Embarrassed, Nanako slapped his leg playfully. Dojima gave a jestful yelp of pain before laughing again. Nanako, who obviously was not enjoying herself as much groaned uncomfortably.

Dojima looked back up at Souji. "Well then… let's get going. My car's over there."

Responding with a nod, Souji followed after Dojima and Nanako to their car.

'_He doesn't know it, but that's probably the best family greeting I've ever gotten…' _Souji smirked. _'Perhaps it's my family as a whole that's just awkward in casual family settings.'_

~O~

The car ride was uneventful. All three of them sat in silence while Souji looked out the window. All around he saw buildings he was unaccustomed to. Unlike the city and all the metal and concrete it was made of, Inaba was a gentle landscape. Everything seemed so small compared to what he was use to. There was hardly anyone outside either.

As Souji observed he felt the car turn into a lot. Looking, he saw that is was a gas station. Immediately as the car parked, an attendant came rushing out to greet them.

"Hi! Welcome to Moel!"

Souji reclined back in his seat as Dojima and Nanako discussed bathroom arrangements. He felt a tad tired from his trip and found his mind wandering back to the dream he had on the train.

'_What was that old man talking about, with… some sort of contract? What could that mean…'_

Souji shook himself from his wonderings as he felt the front doors close. Deciding to get some fresh air, Souji opened up his door and stepped outside. As he stood up, he heard Dojima talking to the attendant.

"Are you taking a trip?"

"No," Dojima replied, "We just came to pick him up. He just moved here from the big city."

"The city, huh…?"

Dojima ignored the attendants last statement and glanced over at his car. "Fill up my car while your at it. Regular's fine."

"Right away, sir!" The attendant replied with a nod.

"Good time as any for a smoke," Dojima mumbled as he looked off into the distance. He walked away from his car as he pulled out his lighter from his pocket.

As soon as Dojima had walked away, the attendant turned to Souji. "Are you in high school?" Souji, who had been previously observing his surroundings, was surprised to be addressed suddenly. "Does it surprise a city boy to see how little there is out here?" The attendant asked regardless of not having his first questioned answered. "There's so little to do, I'm sure you'll get bored fast. You'll either be hanging out with your friends or doing part-time jobs." The attendants face lit up after his last sentence. "Speaking of which, we're actually looking for part-time help right now."

Souji watched as the attendant approached closer to him, stretching his arm out to shake his hand. "Give it some thought, why don't you? We don't mind if you're a student." Not thinking much of it, Souji grasped his hand and shook it. A thin smile crossed the attendant's face, which quickly disappeared as realization crossed his features. "Oh! I should get back to work." The attendant quickly ran off to go pump the gas.

Souji watched the attendant run off. Looking back he saw Nanako watching him from over the hood of the car. As he opened his mouth to say something to her, a sudden wave of exhaustion washed over him. His sight went blurry and he stumbled forward a step. As he regained composure, he saw Nanako standing in front of him, a worried expression on her face.

"…Are you ok? Did you get carsick?" Souji blinked a few more times as Nanako looked him over. "You don't look too good.."

Souji played it off with a laugh. "Don't worry Nanako, it was nothing." Souji's words did not match how he felt however. He could feel himself getting shaky as he stood there. "Uh, why don't we get back in the car? I think the attendant's almost done."

Nanako nodded solemnly.

'_What's the matter now?' _Souji thought as he opened his door and sat down. _'I was fine 'till now. Maybe it was the old man from earlier…' _Souji dismissed his thoughts again. _'Nah, Nanako's right… I'm probably just carsick.'_

~O~

The sodas hissed as Souji, Dojima and Nanako each opened their respective cans. The three had just sat down for dinner at the small wooden dining table in Dojima's house. As Souji was about to take a sip of his drink, Dojima cleared his throat.

"Let's make a toast." He looked over at Souji and attempted a warm smile. "Welcome to the family."

Souji bowed slightly in response. Satisfied, Dojima looked back at his plate, "Now, let's eat." Souji looked down at his meal. It was a simple pre-prepared meal that looked as though it had been bought earlier. Musing at the casualness of his dining accommodations, Souji realized he was starving. Lifting up his chopsticks, he began to dive into his meal.

"So…," Dojima began, swallowing some noodles, "Your mom and dad are busy as always… They're working overseas was it?"

Souji nodded. "Yeah."

Dojima ate some more before speaking again. "I know it's only for a year, but getting stuck in a place like this because of your parents…" He shook his head, "It's rough being a kid."

Souji smiled sincerely at this. "Oh, I don't mind so much really. I've stayed at my other relatives places before."

Dojima looked slightly relieved. "True, at least you know what to expect. Well, it's just me and Nanako here, so it'll be nice having someone like you around." Dojima smiled. "So long as you're here, you're part of the family so make yourself at home."

Souji smiled and bowed. "Thank you for your kindness."

Dojima gave another short laugh. "Oh c'mon, there's no need to be so formal." Dojima looked over at Nanako who had been watching the two conversing. "Look, you're making Nanako all tense."

Nanako looked startled and looked back down at her plate embarrassed. Dojima, now at a loss for words, decided to also go back to eating. Right as he was about to bite into a piece of chicken, a loud ringing noise came from his pocket. Dojima sighed. "Who's calling at this hour?"

Souji watched as Dojima answered the phone, his face slowly contorting into an annoyed expression. "All right, I'm on my way." Dojima ended the call, sticking his phone into his pocket. "Looks like I made the right choice to skip the booze…" he mumbled under his breath. Turning back to Souji and Nanako, Dojima spoke, "Sorry, but I gotta go take care of some business. Go ahead and eat without me."

Nanako stood up as Dojima crossed to the kitchen table and grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair. "I don't know how late I'll be. Nanako, you help him out, ok?"

Nanako looked down glumly before responding. "…Okay."

Without another word, Dojima crossed to the foyer and opened up the front door. The sound of rainfall could be heard outside. "Nanako!" Dojima yelled from the door, "What did you do with the laundry!"

Nanako looked up, "I already brought it in!"

"…Alright. Well, I'm off."

The door closed, leaving Souji and Nanako alone in the house. They both heard the car start up outside and pull out of the driveway. As the car's noise gradually faded away into the night, Nanako turned on the TV. The screen lit up and the face of a female announcer showed up on the screen.

"-for this week. Next, let's take a look at the hourly breakdown of tomorrow's weather. With storm clouds moving in from the west, expect rain throughout the day tomorrow in most areas."

Nanako looked sadly back at her plate. "…Let's eat."

Souji sat there, sitting across from Nanako. "So," he started, "What does your dad do for a living?"

Nanako swallowed a bit of food. "Oh well uh… he investigates stuff. Like crime scenes. My dad's a detective."

Souji's eyes widened in surprise. "A detective? That's interesting."

Nanako nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. He's busy a lot though."

Souji nodded understandingly. "Do you know what my father does?" He asked.

Nanako looked up at him interested, shaking her head.

"Well, he's on the executive board of this big company you see. It's called the Kirijo Corporation."

Nanako's eyes widened in interest.

"Yep, so they get to travel all over and see cool stuff." Souji smiled. "Three years back they went to France for a year and brought me back some art books. This time, they're in America so I'm not sure what they'll find for me there… maybe a hamburger."

Nanako laughed. "That's cool!"

"Yep, it really is." Souji was glad he could get Nanako's mind off a more depressing topic.

Suddenly, the TV made a cheerful melody and a male announcer's voice came on, "And now for the local news. City council secretary Taro Namatame is under fire for an alleged relationship with a female reporter. His wife, enka ballad sensation Mizuzu Hiiragi, revealed to this station that she will likely pursue damages."

Nanako looked back at Souji. "Souji… if that man was already married… why would he be in a relationship with another woman?"

"Uh…" Souji rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, you see…" Souji thought for a moment.

While he was thinking, Nanako had reached for the remote and changed the channel. The screen changed to the picture of a supermarket set ideally on the cape of a dazzling beach.

"At Junes," the overly cheerful commercial speaker said, "every day is Customer Appreciation Day. Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products!" After a brief pause, the closing jingle played: "Every day's great at your Junes!"

Nanako smiled brightly at this and began singing the song to herself. "Every day's great at your Junes!"

"Hey your not half bad, maybe you should sing the song for them." Souji remarked, smiling mostly out of relief that the previous subject was dropped.

Nanako blushed at this. "Oh I'm not that good…" Looking back at Souji she saw that he hadn't even touched his food yet. "…Aren't you going to eat?"

"Oh right." Souji looked back down at his untouched plate. _'This shouldn't be too bad at all,' _He thought to himself as he lifted a piece of chicken to his mouth. _'I think I might just be able to survive one year.'_


	2. Chapter 2: More Dreams, Less Sense

Author's Notes

Hey everyone! Before my second chapter begins, let me address four things about my story and myself.

First, I happen to be an American and while I pride myself on trying to be culturally aware I know I lack much knowledge in that of Japanese daily life. Unfortunately that can't be helped for the most part, so I ask that you bear with me. If something I write is totally off I would appreciate it if you could let me know so I could fix it though. Thanks!

Second, this second chapter has taken longer for me to post than I liked. The reason behind that is that I actually did not own the game until recently. Now that I do however, production can continue as normal. I will warn though that I am a student so at times my schedule may be too filled with schoolwork and updates may come slower. (I am what many would consider a rather lazy student however, and writing is just more fun than solving equations so don't worry about that school getting in the way of updates too much :P ).

Third, my character of Souji is going to be changed a slight bit from the way the game goes mostly in the way of dialogue. This is in part to polish over some awkward conversations (and I'm sure you can all think of a few where you hated all the dialogue responses), and to make Souji my own character (no copyright infringement intended). I'll leave it to my story to develop his character more, so I hope you all enjoy these next sections (where things actually start getting interesting!).

And fourthly, to my reviewers:

Chemical Fire: I will try to fix my formatting errors as I get more use to using the website and its features. As for the redundancies, well, that's something I'm trying to work on with my writing. Thanks for the review though!

Calming-seas88: Thanks for the review! As much as I want constructive criticism, a good review is always appreciated. J

Everyone else: The reason I'm writing this piece is to improve my writing and to entertain people with my take on this tale, so please if you have any comments be they constructive criticism (or destructive when it is really necessary :P ) or just words of praise for good technique or wording, I would greatly like to hear them. Thank ya!

Regrettably, I do not own the rights Persona 4 or any other persona game and am merely doing my own take on this awesome game.

Phew! Well, now that all the pleasantries are out of the way, I give you Chapter Two…

More Dreams, Less Sense

Souji looked around, not being able to see any farther than several feet in front of him in any direction through the fog. Standing up from the crouched position he was in, Souji squinted in the haze.

'_What the…? How did I get… oh, another dream. Great.'_

Glancing around at what he could see around him, Souji noticed that he was standing on a set of red blocks that formed what appeared to be a walkway. Pacing around, he found that the pathway he was on was four blocks wide. Figuring that he was about as tall as two blocks were long, and he was near six foot tall the walkway was probably roughly twelve feet wide. Wandering off behind where he started, Souji saw that the blocks shortly trailed off and then ceased, making a sharp drop off into the nothingness beneath him.

'_Looks like the only way to go is straight ahead' _Souji thought, looking down the path before him. _'Alright, I'll play along.'_

Casually, Souji started down the path. For what felt like an eternity he walked down the path that occasionally twisted and turned in different directions. Humming to himself as he went, Souji silently noted how he wished he had a pair of headphones.

'_I'll pick some up after this.'_

"Do you seek the truth…?"

Souji stopped, turning on his heel. Spinning around, he didn't find any source of the voice that seemingly had spoken directly in his ear. After waiting a minute with nothing else happening, Souji shrugged and decided to continue down the path.

'_Weird…'_

Another eternity of walking. Souji was really bored know and had taken to buttoning and unbuttoning his jacket's collar out of habit. Just as he was about to unbutton it for the umpteenth time, the voice spoke again:

"If it's truth you desire, come and find me…"

Again it sounded like it come from right behind him and again when he looked around no one was there.

'_The truth? I hope this isn't that creepy old man again…'_

This time, after Souji had started walked for only a few minutes a large square wall come up in front of him. The wall had a pattern of increasingly large squares of alternating red and black originating from the center red square. Staring at the wall, Souji looked around realizing there was no way around it. Noticing that the center square of the door seemed to hum with a sort of energy, Souji decided to trying pressing it.

At his touch, the door began sliding open. The center square twisted and disappeared into the square around it, which in turn did the same to the larger square around it. This repeated until the second largest square disappeared into the largest which made up the frame of the portal.

"Nice." Souji mused at the intricacy of the door. Taking one last look around, he walked through the now open door. Shortly after stepping through it, he noticed that it closed shut behind him. Through the fog he thought he saw someone standing some distance ahead of him. Squinting, all Souji could make out was a faint silhouette that appeared roughly human.

"So… You are the one pursuing me…"

Souji looked to his sides, and finding no one guessed the apparition meant him. "So it would seem."

The apparition mused to itself. "Try all you like…" It taunted.

"What do you mean, try all I…" As he spoke Souji noticed the sword laying in front of him on the ground. Lifting it up off the ground, Souji was surprised at the weight of the blade. Balancing it in his hands, Souji glanced back at the apparition that was hovering some distance away from him. _'Well, this is a dream so… what the heck, why not?'_

Charging forward, Souji swung the blade around at the figure. Feeling the blow of his swing connect, Souji was surprised when the apparition merely hovered off some distance away from him, unfazed from the assault.

The figure hummed to itself again. "It seems that you can see a little, despite the fog…"

'_**Thou should try again.'**_

The voice echoed in Souji's thoughts. _'Another voice? This just get's stranger and stranger…'_

Nevertheless, Souji heeded the mysterious voice and lunged again at the apparition. Once again the blow connected and once again the shadow withdrew immediately afterwards. Souji let out an exasperated grunt.

"I see… indeed, you possess an interesting quality…"

'_**Thou must delve deep to pierce the cloud of deception.' **_The booming voice in Souji's thoughts rang out again.

'_Thanks for the tip…' _Souji thought back sarcastically. Eyeing the shadow again, Souji readied himself to make another lunge at it. This time, Souji tried bringing the blade down with all his strength right where he imagined the apparition's head would be. As the blow connected yet again, Souji felt the presence retreat once more away from him without so much a sign of real injury.

"But… you will not catch me so easily…" The apparition's voice trailed off. Souji found himself exhausted for some reason and his breath was coming out heavy. "If what you seek is 'truth,' then your search will be even harder."

"Damn it, the truth?; just who are you?" Souji called out to the figure. "That's all I want to know."

From what it sounded like, the apparition had chuckled to itself. "You will find that those two concepts… are yet one in the same." At the final utterance of the last word Souji noticed that the fog began thickening. Within seconds, the fog became so dense that he couldn't even see the red floor he was standing on let alone the apparition that had previously haunted the edges of his vision.

'_**Thou must always try, even when the path ahead is masked.'**_

'_Easy for you to say, voice in my head.'_

With an audible cry "ha!" Souji tried striking out at where he thought the apparition had previously been before the fog deepened. This time however, the blow only struck thin air.

"Everyone sees what they want to…" The apparition's voice sounded like it came from directly behind him again. Swinging around, Souji's blade swept through the air with ease finding no target. "And the fog only deepens…" The voice trailed off again and, as if on command, the fog deepened further. Souji was now having trouble seeing farther than about a foot away from himself.

'_**Thou must cling to the truths thyself already know and find strength from them in time of need.'**_

Desperately he swung again into the mist at his evasive opponent. After this final miss, Souji felt himself growing too weak to remain standing, let alone swing again. In exhaustion, he collapsed to one knee. Fighting to remain conscious, Souji felt the presence of the apparition draw up close behind him.

"…Will we meet again…?" The haunting voice spoke into his ear. "At a place other than here…" Souji imagined the spectral lips of the apparition contorting into a twisted smile as it laughed to itself. "I look forward to it.."

As the presence drew away, Souji felt his last bit of strength escaping him. Just as he was about to fall unconscious, the booming voice echoed once more through his thoughts:

'_**And… thou must know thy limits and know thy path can not be traveled alone.'**_

Without chance for any retort from Souji's own thoughts, he felt the world darken around him and with one last grunt he collapsed on the red squared floor…


	3. Chapter 3: The First Day Part 1

The First Day (Part 1)

'_**Awaken'**_

Souji woke to the sound of someone knocking on his door.

"Breakfast's ready." The muffled voice said through the door.

Groaning, Souji opened his eyes. Glancing at his clock he noticed that it was going to soon be time for him to go to school. Stretching his arms, Souji sat himself up from his futon. Yawning, he looked over towards the door. "I'll be right down!" He called back.

"Ok…" The voice replied, and Souji could hear the footsteps going down the stairs. Forcing himself up, Souji could feel weariness still tugging at his eyelids.

'_Way to make a first day impression.' _he mused to himself. _'First day of school and I'll already look like I'm falling asleep in class.'_

Shrugging off the thoughts of the night before, Souji yawned again. Deciding to get ready, Souji crossed over to his duffel bag and began rummaging around for his clothes.

~O~

With his winter uniform on, Souji came walking down the stairs. Upon entering the living room and the adjoined kitchen/dining room, Souji saw that the kitchen table had been layed out with food already. What appeared to be an egg and some bacon were resting on a plate along with a piece of toast on its own plate next to it. Two glasses of water were also on the table.

From out of the kitchen, Nanako came walking out with her own plate of bacon and eggs gripped between her hands. Upon seeing Souji she greeted him kindly, "Good morning."

Souji nodded at her and smiled. "Good morning." Both of them then started towards the table, Souji sitting at the spot already set and Nanako taking the second chair across from his.

"Okay," Nanako said, still not entirely comfortable or use to someone else around besides her dad. "Let's eat."

Souji nodded and looked down at his plate. He looked back up at Nanako as he reached for a piece of bacon. "Did Dojima go to work already?" He asked, biting into the piece of bacon he had grabbed.

Nanako nodded solemnly. "There was some kind of trouble." She began, her voice taking a less cheery tone. "He won't be back."

"I see." Souji replied, finishing off the last bit of the bacon he held.

"You're starting school today, right?" Souji nodded at Nanako's question. "My school's on the way, so… let's go together."

Souji grinned. "Sure." Nanako seemed happy with his response and went on eating happily.

~O~

It was raining as the pair made their way along Inaba's flood plains. Souji and Nanako had been talking about the weather and how they both found the rain relaxing. After walking and talking for some time, Nanako stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

"You keep going straight from here." She said, pointing down the street. Turning around, Nanako then pointed in the other direction "My school's this way. Bye." she said with a cheerful smile.

"Bye." Souji replied. "Be safe."

After Nanako left, Souji kept walking down the street as per her directions. It wasn't long before he could see the high school building just ahead of him. A few other students were also walking to school then. Looking around, Souji heard a noise that sounding like squeaking metal coming up behind him. Glancing behind him to see what it was, his reflexes were just fast enough for him to dodge out of the way as a student who was riding a bike came recklessly fast down the street.

"Whoa!" The student riding the bike exclaimed, as his wheels spun out on the slick pavement causing his steering to veer. With a loud crash, he and his bike crashed into a street light.

Souji, who had watched the whole thing happen walked up towards the guy. The student who had nearly crashed into him had medium length orange-brown hair and was dressed in the usual checkered collar, black school jacket. His left arm pinned his red backpack to his side as his hands were pressed to his knee. Souji could hear him groaning in pain.

'_Ouch.' _Souji almost felt bad for the guy. '_But he did almost crash into me… oh look, morning bell's about to ring. Guess I better hurry to class.'_

Carefully walking around the injured student, Souji made his way up the hill and into the school's courtyard. Looking up at the three story classroom building, Souji took a moment to look around at his new surroundings.

'_Guess school doesn't change much, no matter where you put it.'_

Shrugging again, he made his way into the school.

~O~

Souji had walked from the faculty office with his new homeroom teacher up to the second floor and down the hall to the second classroom. In that small amount of time of a mere five or seven minutes, and with less than a few sentences of greeting spoken from the man, Souji knew one thing: he was going to hate this guy.

Just from how he looked, Souji had a bad feeling from the start. Mr. Morooka, as Souji learned was his name, was by every definition of the word, an unappealing person. Physically, the man's hair was grayed-black and thinning. His misaligned teeth extended out of his mouth in a severe overbite. Even the man's posture was terrible, his legs bowed and back hunched over.

Further, Souji took note of the man's sour disposition. His face, which was already in a perpetual scornful look twisted itself further into a scowl as he approached the new student. When the faculty teacher told him that Souji was from the city, the scowl deepened even further than Souji thought possible. Along with all his wrinkles of bitterness, Mr. Morooka had a massive vein that bulged on his forehead when he was upset, like just then.

But this wasn't the part that convinced Souji of his loathing to be. No, the part that did him in was the string of nasty and obscene remarks he made which stood as his greeting and introduction to the school the moment they left the faculty office. In those few moments of Mr. Morooka's short rant about the pain of transfer students, Souji knew that he was going to have one heck of a time keeping quiet.

Souji braced himself as the two walked into the class room. Inside, everyone was talking loudly and most hadn't noticed them enter. Mr. Morooka cleared his throat:

"Alright, shut your traps!" He barked, taking his spot standing behind the teaching podium. "I'm Kinshiro Morooka, your homeroom teacher from today forward!"

Souji noticed that the man seemed to be only able to talk in a loud demanding tone.

"First things first! Just 'cause it's spring break doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons. Long as I'm around, you students are going to be pure as the driven snow."

Souji found himself shuffling awkwardly at the implication of Mr. Morooka's words. Taking some solace in the horrified faces of some of his fellow classmates, Souji tried his best to keep his stance firm.

"Now I hate wasting my time, but I'd better introduce this transfer student." Mr. Morooka made a violent gesture with his hand towards Souji. "This sad sack's been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage. Oh, and he's just as much of a loser here as he was there, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on him!"

Souji bit his lip at this. _'Look who's talking old man.'_

"Tell 'em your name, kid, and make it quick."

Biting back his annoyance, Souji put on a charming smile and addressed the class. "My name is Souji Seta, it's nice to meet you all." As Souji spoke he looked around the classroom making eye contact with a handful of his students. On all their faces, past the looks of horror and resignation, was the gleam of curiosity. This one girl, who sat the back by the window managed to even give him a smile. Souji returned the smile by keeping eye contact with her a little longer before moving on.

"What's that look you're giving that girl back there by the window! You thought I wouldn't notice!" Mr. Morooka's sudden accusation startled Souji who couldn't help but look dumfounded at the man. Meanwhile, the girl in the back who was the second target of Mr. Morooka's accusation blushed brightly and quickly looked down. "Now listen up!" Mr. Morooka started, "This town is miles away from your big city of perverts. You better not even think of getting involved with the girls here, let alone abusing them!"

Mr. Morooka made a disgusted guttural noise. "But what do I know? It's not like the old days. Even here, kids grow up so damn fast." Mr. Morooka was making more violently hand gestures. "Every time I turn my back, your fooling around on those damn phones, checking your life-journals and you're my-places…"

As Mr. Morooka went on and on with his lecture he grew more and more into it. Souji couldn't help but be dumbstruck at the man's blatancy and audacity. Just as he felt himself opening his mouth to say something, a light brown haired girl wearing a green jacket who was sitting in the third row raised her hand.

"Excuse me!" She asked. "Is it okay if the transfer student sits here?"

"…and the only thing worse than all those "anime games" is all this "fan fiction" nonsense. In my day we wrote our own stories and… huh? Yeah, sure." Mr. Morooka stopped mid sentence and glared over at Souji. "Hear that? Your seat's over there." Before Souji could do so much as move a finger, Mr. Morooka chastised him again, "So hurry up and sit down already!"

Biting his tongue one last time, Souji made his way over to his seat next to the short haired girl who had raised her hand. As soon as he sat down, the girl leaned over and whispered to him.

"He's the worst, huh? Rotten luck for you to get stuck in his class." The girls tone changed to more hopeful, "Well, we'll just have to hang in there for a year."

Souji laughed dryly. "Guess so." As the girl leaned back over, he could hear the other students talking.

"Sucks to be the transfer student, ending up in King Moron's class on the first morning here…" A guy's voice said.

"Yeah, he won't think twice about suspending you if you get on his bad side." A whiny girl's voice replied. "Then again," she added, "we're all in the same boat…"

"Shut your traps!" Mr. Morooka's voice cut like a knife through the life in the room. Immediately everyone fell silent again. "I'm taking roll, and I damn well expect you to respond in an orderly manner!"

'_Really could use those ear phones…'_

~O~

After listening to Mr. Morooka's lectures on how things would work this year for several hours, Souji was nearly at his wits end. When Mr. Morooka had finally finished up and the final bell rang, Souji had never been so happy.

As Souji began collecting his things and other students around him were getting up and leaving the PA sounded.

"Attention, all teachers. Please report immediately to the Faculty Office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice."

Mr. Morooka groaned. "You heard the announcement. Don't go anywhere until you hear otherwise."

Without another word, Mr. Morooka left the room. As soon as the door closed the room broke out in conversation again.

"He's seriously getting on my nerves…" A girl who was standing next to Souji mumbled. Her and her friend continued complaining about Mr. Morooka for a while. Souji was just putting his notebook back in his case when the sound of sirens came from out side. Immediately, several guys ran over to the window.

"Did something happen? Don't those sirens sound really close?"

"Ugh, I can't see a thing. Frickin' fog…"

Souji tuned them out as soon as the conversation turned toward weather and then some announcer lady. In all honestly, he could care less about the weather or their local politics and he was well too use to the sound of sirens in the city. With all his stuff packed up, and nothing better to do, Souji leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes.

'_Stupid dreams, interrupting my sleep…'_

It wasn't long before the sound of the PA woke him from his dozing. Annoyed, Souji blinked his eyes back open.

"Attention, all students. There has been an incident inside the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the School Zone. Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardians as soon as possible, and quickly leave the school grounds. Do not disturb the police officer's," the voice emphasized, "head directly home."

Immediately, one of the students excitedly stood up. "Incident!" As he raced out of the room, the students' conversations gradually started growing louder about what could of happened.

Shaking his head and musing at all the commotion, Souji stood up and grabbed his things. _'Guess nothing really does happen in these small towns if one incident causes such an uproar.'_

"Hey, are you going home by yourself?" Souji realized the question was directed at him. Turning, he saw the girl who sat next to him and her friend, a girl with long black hair who wore a red cardigan, next to her. "Why don't you come with us?" She asked, putting on a cheerful smile.

Souji nodded. "Sure, why not?"

The girl nodded and seemed ready to start going, and then her eyes widened as she remembered her manners. "Oh, I nearly forgot! I'm Chie Satonaka. You know I sit next to you, right?" She asked carefully.

"Of course, as riveting as Mr. Morooka's lectures were I did have some spare time to notice you."

She laughed at his sarcasm. "Well, I'm glad you had time to look more than just at that girl back by the window." Laughing as Souji awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, Chie quickly added, "I'm just joking! I seriously don't know what that guy's problem is."

"Ha yeah," Souji laughed. "I'm glad you raised your hand when you did though. If you didn't, who knows, I might've gotten myself expelled the first day." Souji flashed them both a charming smile. "Not the best first impression."

"You certainly would have been memorable. Like a true martial artist or samurai, rather going down than lose your pride." They both laughed. "Well, nice to meet you!" Chie looked towards her friend who had remained quiet the whole time. "Oh, this is Yukiko Amagi."

Yukiko seemed startled at suddenly being introduced. "Oh, nice to meet you… I'm sorry that this is so sudden…" Yukiko talked rather uncomfortably, as though she weren't use to doing much of it.

Chie looked at her friend and shook her head. "C'mon, don't apologize like that. It makes me look like I got no upbringing. I just wanted to ask some stuff." Chie looked back at Souji. "Really, that's all."

Souji laughed, he found the curiosity people had in him, well… curious. "Well I'll certainly try answering what I can, but perhaps we should get going?" With a gesture of his arm toward the door, Chie and Yukiko nodded and the trio started making their way to the door.

Before they even made it out of the aisle, however, a boy came up in front of them. Souji recognized him as the guy who almost crashed his bike into him earlier that morning.

"Uh, um, Miss Satonaka…?" He began, mumbling out his words. Souji saw that he held something that looked like maybe a DVD box in his hands. "This was really awesome. Like, the way they moved was just amazing to see…" Souji looked over at Chie who was eyeing the guy suspiciously. "And… I'm really sorry!" The guy stuck out the case to Chie and bowed his head. "It was an accident! Please just have mercy until my next paycheck!"

Confused, Chie slowly grabbed the box out of his hands. Before she had a chance to do anything with it, the guy quickly spoke again:

"Uh, see ya, thanks!"

Just as he was rushing out to leave, Chie chased him down. "Wait! What did you do to my DVD!"

Souji looked at Yukiko quizzically, but she only returned him the look. A cry of pain from the red haired guy captured Souji's attention and he looked over to see what had happened. The guy was hunched over in pain and Chie was looking inside the DVD case with a horrified look on her face.

"What the! I can't believe this!" Chie sounded both upset and angry. "It is completely cracked… My Trial of the Dragon…!"

"I think mine's cracked too…" The guy groaned. "Critical hit to the nads…"

Souji rolled his eyes and smirked. Yukiko however seemed concerned about him and asked, "A-are you all right?"

The guy seemed to forget about his pain momentarily, looked up with what looked like hope in his eyes. "Oh, Yukiko-san… Are you worried about me?"

Chie turned to Yukiko, still full of bitterness about her DVD. "He's fine, Yukiko. Let's ditch him and go home."

With that, Chie put the case back in her backpack and her and Yukiko both left the room. Souji stayed a moment longer, seeing the other guy writhe in what he could imagine a lot of pain.

"I-I, uh…" Souji licked his lips uncomfortably. Without another word, Souji decided to leave him be and follow the two girls out.


End file.
